Ahmedabad: Indian skipper Rahul Dravid said it was the batting which had let the team down and cost it the fifth one-day International against Sri Lanka.

“We lost few quick wickets at a crucial stage and fell short by 25-30 runs in good batting conditions and that was the difference,” said the skipper after India suffered their first defeat in the tournament, going down by five wickets in the fifth one-dayer here.

However, he was all praise for his young bowling attack for “putting up a good effort in tiring conditions”.

“The boys put in a good effort. Our bowling attack was young and I thought that the way they fought was brilliant.

“We are giving chance to these young boys and they are putting their hands up and delivering. This helps the team and it is good sign for the team. We have played good cricket and we will keep developing in the next two games also,” he said.

When asked about his absence from the field for the larger part of the Sri Lankan innings, Dravid said it was nothing serious. “Yeah, it was cramps and I should be ok. It’s fine now,” he said.

Sri Lankan captain Maravan Atapattu said they were looking forward to pull off a few more victories before the start of the Test series.

“Hopefully we will pull a few more victories before the Test matches as there is still lot of cricket ahead of us and it is important to finish the tour on a high note.”

On Sunday’s match, he said, “Mahroof bowled well and Zoysa took two good wickets. It was good condition to bat and Dilshan and Russel’s partnership was magnificent.”

Man-of-the-Match Tillekeratne Dilshan, who pipped two century makers ' Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir for the award, said both he and Arnold felt that they should stay till the end.

“When I came, the required run rate was close to seven and we knew that it would be difficult for the bowlers at the end. We thought that the wicket was good to bat and with myself and Russel staying it would be easy. Russel’s support was very helpful from the other end.” (PTI)